RU Pokemon of the Week: Cinccino

Clefable is a poke I find incredibly easy to just slap on my team. Especially the support set. In fact, I think she is my most used RU Pokemon. With protect, s gully special defensive set has a good shoot at avoiding the 2KO from the like of Life Orb Moltres` Hurricane. which makes her one of the better firebird checks in the tier (a crit kan pretty easily be an OHKO though, so don`t expect her to do the job alone).

But the main thing about her that makes me feel all fuzzy inside, is that she is pretty much the best Wisher in the tier, which really work well with the likes of Moltres and Uxie. Being able to run 1000 other sets is also never a minus.

While Clefable is incredibly versatile, bulky, and has solid stats and a great movepool, I find it hard to fit Clefable into the average team. Before the rise of Nidoqueen, I barely saw Clefable at all, and even with rising usage (likely due to Nidoqueen), i still don't think Clefable is all that useful. Clefable has a tough time stopping other top tier Special Attackers like Magmortar and Moltres, being easily 2hko'd by both. Clefable also has trouble with Sleep inducing boosters, mainly Lilligant. On top of this, Clefable's fighting weakness means that it is easily exploited by Medicham, Gallade, Hitmonlee, Hitmonchan, and others. Escavalier and Kabutops also have quite an easy time coming in and exploiting Clefable as well, or at the very least forcing it out. Without Encore, Clefable cannot stop Offensive Trick Room Cofagrigus either.

The main problem with Defensive Clefable is that it has 4mss pretty badly. Without Encore, it gets easily set up on. Thunder Wave, Toxic, Knock Off, Double Edge, Facade, Softboiled, Wish Protect etc are all viable on Defensive Clefable, but either way no matter what moves you choose you are going to have trouble with something. Offensive / Calm Mind Clefable is just simply too slow to really accomplish much, especially in this particularly fast paced metagame.

So even though Clefable usage has been rising, I believe that Clefable is currently outclassed in this metagame, not only as a "nidoqueen counter" but as a support pokemon in general. There is simply too much offense for Clefable to stand its own

Clefable is pretty good on stall teams. This is mainly for one reason: the ability to wall Nidoqueen. Nidoqueen is a big threat in the metagame, especially for stall teams, and being able to comfortably switch in and wall it without caring about entry hazards is a major boost for stall teams. It can also support the team with Wish + Protect, and annoy with Toxic. Magic Guard helps it out a lot, as it makes it much harder to take down than other walls; it also makes it immune to entry hazard damage, making it an even better choice for stall teams. While other Pokemon may be better overall, Clefable really has a nice niche for stall teams that have problems with Nidoqueen, which is literally all of them. An offensive set can also be a nice surprise, and can KO common switch-ins to Cefable easily. However, Clefable should mainly only be using a Max Special Defense / Max HP wall set, as that is pretty much all it's good at.

Ruiner of Alph

You should know the drill by now. We're looking to discuss everything there is about Sceptile: his sets, checks and counters, what he checks and counters, roles and niches in the metagame, or anything else competitive related.

I should also take this time to mention that DittoCrow gave the go ahead for most creative poster and best poster in this thread to each receive a point towards this. These points will be awarded at the start of every week. On that note, let the discussion begin :3

Sceptile is an awesome cleaner! With its Speed and Special Attack Sceptile is to hard, also with Hidden Power Rock Fire-types aren't too much of a problem. One problem I find though is that Sceptile wears down too easily, even with Synthesis. Giga Drain is very helpful to gain health back, and doesn't lower Special Attack >_> Priority is a b** for it.

Everyone using the Unburden set makes it kind of predictable seeing as how you KNOW it's desperate to get off that Acrobatics otherwise it's not sweeping. Pure Life Orb Sweeper is still the most threatening Sceptile imo. Just ravishes shit with that LO Leaf Storm. Of course the downfall for it is that it's relying on a gazillion inaccurate Special Attacks, but that's all part of the fun. :D

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If you use Jolly, you don't really need to use up the Gem to outspeed most things. Still, it does lose some valuable power. Seeing as Sceptile is my favorite Pokémon design wise (I know some people say it's ugly but for me it's the coolest mon ever), I tried building a team around the Unburden set. It was just today and has only gone through 8 matches. Sceptile isn't great and doesn't always sweep, not to mention that Adamant nature gives me the problem of not outspeeding Galvantula before Acrobatics, but it did earn me one clean sweep and 3 forfeits.

I think the special set works better as a cleaner but I really hate the Sp.Atk drop due to Leaf Storm. Using it is just screaming "I'm switching out now!", which is even more predictable than the Unburden set.

If you want a cleaner set, you should run the set that august has on his RMT. Just looking at it can tell me its effective. But yeah, non un-burden sceptile is still very scary for offensive teams as there is virtually no safe switch-in for offensive teams.

Acrobatics/Unburden Sceptile sucks imo, and the most popular set is the Special Sweeper. The Unburden set is walled by way more stuff than the special set, and lacks immediate power without a Swords Dance. The best set right now is:

Sceptile has great coverage with Focus Blast, Giga Drain, and HP Rock. It also provides great resistances for any team, as it is (obviously) a Grass-type. The reason I use Substitute is that Sceptile can set up on so much such as Lanturn and Pokemon using status moves like Ferroseed. With its great coverage and Speed, Sceptile has an easier time sweeping behind a Substitute as it can take a hit while damaging the foe. I use Leftovers so Sceptile can make more Substitutes, and I think that Life Orb really damages Sceptile's longevity. If you want to run Life Orb, it'd probably be better to use Leaf Storm instead of Substitute for more power.

The only other Sceptile set that I like is august's set, as it's a huge surprise and it'll take a while for the opponent to figure out what walls it. I won't elaborate because I'm sure he'll make a post about it

Sceptile is one of my favorite mons in RU, and is definitely one of the best now that RU is so fast-paced.

Yeah, pure physical unburden Sceptile just doesn't have enough immediate power to really do anything.. Life Orb Substitute + 3 Attacks Sceptile is pretty awesome atm, especially with any sort of Spikes support because it forces so many switches. It has very few offensive checks, like Scarf Rotom-c and Choice Band Escavalier to name the main 2 that i use. Hidden Power [Rock] smashes Moltres, Magmortar, and Entei that previously may have been considered decent switch ins.

Because they share similar counters/checks and are both in general top tier special attackers, i find LO Nidoqueen to be an excellent partner with Sceptile. Nidoqueen's solid bulk, Thunder Wave / Toxic immunity and Bug resist are all useful to help keep Sceptile alive longer (ie: prevent it from getting revenge killed by Accelgor or something). Queen can come in on Scarf Rotom-c HP Fire and Volt Switch which is pretty cool, as it makes a decent Sceptile switch in. While it cannot really come into Escavalier, it can easily force it out with the threat of a 4x super effective Life Orb boosted Flamethrower. Smeargle and Offensive Accelgor both make pretty decent partners as well, because they set up hazards to rack up residual damage while Sceptile forces switches and uses Substitute to ease predictions.

My favorite Sceptile set though is definitely the one i used on my recent team. For anyone who didn't see it, here is the set/description from my RMT

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The end game cleaner, and the best one i've ever used. This set scares away pretty much every spinner, as well as wrecking offense when hazards are down. I usually save Sceptile for late game when everything is weakened and i won't have to switch out after my Unburden boost, since i only run enough Speed to beat Max Timid Rotom. Acrobatics hits Fighters like Primeape, Gallade, and Medicham hard while also giving me a boost in Speed. I generally fire off Acrobatics against a Grass-type or something that i can easily pick off and KO. Early game though, Sceptile can scare off Sandslash and Kabutops while also surprising Cryogonal (although i don't ohko the set that runs a lot of Defense). Rock Slide smacks Moltres around and hits Entei switch ins. Hidden Power [Fire] hits Escavalier and Steelix without having to drop 2 Special Attack stages.

As DittoCrow said when i showed him this team, Acrobatics Sceptile has become so umcommon that Roselia and Cryo think they can come in easily. Acrobatics OHKOs Roselia easily, which means that Sceptile is free to Leaf Storm later in the game without a 4x resist coming in every time. I originally made this set to also help beat stall, but I haven't seen much stall this round so it basically functions as a late game offense cleaner. There's not really much more to say about this set, give it a shot

When i decided to use this set, I made sure that i picked a set that could surprise Sceptiles common checks/counters. For example:
Rotom-c - doesn't OHKO, Acrobatics 2HKOs.
Lilligant - OHKO'd after Rocks by Flight Gem Acrobatics
Escavalier - 2HKO'd by Acro + HP Fire

In addition, HP Fire 2HKOs Steelix, Leaf Storm smashes resists, Rock Slide hits Cryo and Moltres (much like HP Rock on the LO set), and in general i got a lot of surprise kills just by people wondering what kind of set i could possibly be running that used that combination of moves.

Moderator

Sceptile's special sets are definitely its best ones, but I don't think SD Tile is totally worthless. I've been using it and have been pleased with it. The special sets are so common (and good) that the physical set actually benefits from this. It normally won't sweep through everything, but the lack of Grass resisting physical walls aid it. It needs a wallbreaker to lessen the need for SD, but paralysis support also slows faster threats should you not want to rely solely on a wallbreaker.

tl;dr: Physical Sceptile still works well, but the special sets (and august's set) are better overall

Personally I never use sceptile on my teams because of fact that I find that bulky grass types such as Tangrowth, Rotom-C and Lilligant are so much more beneficial. Sceptile has amazing speed and always has the threat of being physical or special, it also has decent coverage and survivability with access to stab giga drain and synthesis(Underrated on Sceptile). I see why people would use sceptile but I feel that bulky grass types are better and fit better into my teams.

Sceptile is a powerful Grass mon. Focus Blast is a really huge asset on Sceptile to make it a MUCH harder Pokemon to wall than Lilligant. The latter has Sleep Powder and QD for some nice sweep, but it's really easy to stop it early-game with mons like Escavalier, Drapion, Druddigon, and Sap Sippers. Also Sleep Powder is a bitch sometimes. Rotom-C is another offensive Grass mon with great coverage move, but it's much too slow to pull a sweep - it's more of an offensive utility mon. Behind a Sub, LO Sceptile can really dish out punishment. Sub is definitely nice to fend it off from powerful priorities like Entei's ESpeed and Absol's Sucker Punch and Scarf Mons. It's base Speed 120 is really clutch in revenge-killing Archeops, Tauros, and Chillarmy.

Haven't really faced or used august's funky Sceptile's set, so I really can't comment on it, but it sure looks like an awesome mid-game hole puncher with Leaf Storm and surprise HP Fire & late-game Sweeper with Unburden Acrobatics. Scarf Galvantula can suck it xP

RU Co-Leader

Sceptile is an amazing pokemon in this metagame, 10/10 pick jellicent :D.

Anyways, im going to have to agree with everyone discussing subtile, its quite possibly not my favorite sceptile set, but my favorite RU set in general. Sceptile's incredible speed, good coverage, and base 105 special attack stat helps sceptile force switches against various pokemon such as sandslash, poliwrath, quagsire, kabutops, or omastar, giving sceptile a free turn to set up a substitute =). Giga Drain is a really useful move in conjunction with substitute, it heals off all the damage taken from substitute and life orb (that health can go a long way considering sceptile has a low hp stat). In return, substitute gives sceptile's giga drain a good power boost, so many times have i repeatedly used substitute against a slower pokemon that i couldnt KO, only to use the overgrow boost to knock them out, and get all my hp back in the process.

One thing ill have to say is that i actually disagree with Dittocrow on the item choice, despite good coverage, overgrow, and a 105 special attack stat, i feel sceptile NEEDS the power given by life orb to be threatening. I mean, giga drain only has 75 base power without overgrow, and sceptile can simply use the move to heal off life orb recoil. I also run max speed on my sceptile to beat cincinno and beat other sceptile, but thats a different story.

I also really like august's sceptile, good late game cleaner especially against offensive teams (watch out for CB entei and absol, though!) I havent used it much, but ive seen it in action enough to say its one of the best sets around.

Another set that has potential is subpetaya with unburden, despite having only one chance to sweep, and not having overgrow to work with, if sent out at the right time this sceptile set could sweep offensive and defensive teams alike, worth a mention imo.

Overall, sceptile is one of the best pokemon in the metagame at the moment, and should NEVER be underestimated, if you do, go back to B101 plz or i repot you

Ruiner of Alph

Ugh, this was a little rough to judge, as we had some really solid posts in here. That sounds like bitching, but it's a good thing~ Hopefully we can keep discussion rolling throughout the full week on this next one~

Best Poster: August - Very informative, and he really covered a lot of the bases well (sets, checks, roles, partners)
Most Creative: Aeroblacktyl - He offered solid metagame knowledge, creative set tweaks, and humorous personal experience

Great work, both of you; no one else should get discouraged, however. This was one of the strongest discussions yet ^.^

Moderator

Kabutops is, without a doubt, the best spinner in the tier atm. Unlike Cryogonal, the next best spinner, Kabutops has the ability to keep up offensive pressure and pick off weakened threats. If you run offense and want a spinner, Kabutops is the Pokemon for you:

Without a doubt, the best set Tops can run atm. After a Swords Dance boost, Kabutops can run through every Ghost in the tier. Spiritomb and Cofagrigus gets screwed up by a +2 Stone Edge. Oh, Spiritomb wants to use a priority move? Weak Armor lets you benefit that and possibly start a sweep. Rotom wants to ruin your day and smack you with Electric STAB? +2 Aqua Jet OHKOs it without any issues. It's probably the best partner to Moltres and Entei as both remove Grass types Kabutops can't handle while both appreciate Kabutops's ability to remove SR and pick off faster threats with Aqua Jet. Moltres is typically the better partner since it has more defensive synergy with Tops than Entei does. Grass types like Rotom-C, Lilligant, and Sceptile also work well to demolish the likes of Slowking and Lanturn who both have a chance of surviving Kabutops's assault and KO back. If you want Kabutops to sweep, then packing a wallbreaker such as Escavalier or the aforementioned Entei is advised to break down the opposing team first.

Although being able to spin and beat opposing Ghost types is certainly a strong point for Kabutops, it can be an absolute terror to face in Rain where it more than likely will run Waterfall over Rapid Spin and have Swift Swim instead of Weak Armor. (though weather is admittedly uncommon in RU atm) If going the rain route, then weather starters such as Uxie, Electrode, and Ludicolo are good options while sweeping support from other Swift Swimmers like Gorebyss and the aforementioned Ludicolo are also solid options.
Whether it's spinning and breaking down Ghost types and other teams in general or sweeping through your team under the rain, Kabutops is a top threat that every team should have at least one answer to.

There are a few key reasons why it holds such an important place right now.

1- The Rise of Offense.
With the release of Gothitelle mostly, Nidoqueen coming down, and Moltres now being able to take down Slowking, offense is basically the best option in RU right now. Kabutops fits right into these teams as the moment as it is great at spinning because it also presents a threat which few pokemon will want to to take.

2- Defeating Spin Blockers
The most important part of this statement is that it can deal with ghost types unlike any other spinner even being able to take down cofagrigus after an SD.

3- Sweeping potential
I also works so well on teams because LO aqua jet is so good for taking down low pokes or cripping such things as entei, moltres, magmortar, and archeops. Not to mention after SD and the potential weak armor speed boost almost nothing will want to take a Stone Edge giving it huge sweeping abilities.

Because Kabutops provides so much it is also very effective in creating a solid Grass/Water/Fire core on many teams featuring common teammates like Moltres and Sceptile.

Now finally getting to it's counters, there are quite a few but the most notable is Tangrowth. It can so easily take any of its moves while still being able to 1HKO with giga drain. Also for the fact kabutops doesn't boast amazing speed especially with adamant, many things can easily OHKO. Some of these include Sceptile, Rotom-C (Probably best offensive counter), Accelgor with Giga Drain(Very underrated), all the various electric types, and finally Jynx(Focus Blast and immune to aqua jet and the ability to sub or Lovely Kiss).

Now noting all the counters the obvious thing is that Kabutops is mostly weak to grass and electric types and a few things come to mind while trying to pair it. Sawsbuck is a great addition to any team with Kabutops being able to take those pesky grass moves and come out with a very scary +1 Attack. Which the only pokemon that can deal with this happens to be sceptile which still relies on hitting that focus blast. Almost a must in RU ATM is to carry a electric immunity and this works strongly in conjunction with our friend Kabutops. Things like Lanturn and Electivire can work very well both getting great bonuses, but still lack the ability to safely deal with scarf Rotom-C (Damn Leaf Storm predictions hurt a lot). Nidoqueen is another great partner as it can take any electric move and still be able to survive Rotom-C or a random Bug Buzz from Galvantula due great bulk and resistances. While it still packs a great base defense stat it still weak to fighting moves and ghost types almost fit on any team and can protect kabutops from any KO, some great examples are black glasses spiritomb and defensive cofag as they can tank and throw will-o-wisps out the wazzo.

Another part of Kabutops is the ability to sweep and getting its walls out of the way for it can be just as important. Pokemon like Archeops and Escavalier are great wall breakers that can takeout things like Tangrowth or Poliwrath which give kabutops huge problems, not to mention can outspeed things like sceptile and OHKO or just tank a hit and OHKO something like Rotom-C. Baiting a physical attack can also be very important for a kabutops to sweep to gain that weak armor boost, probably the best example is escavalier as it can get something like entei to flare blitz which kabutops has no trouble tanking.

In all you should either be packing this guy or be prepared for it because right now in RU Kabutops is far from rarely used.

I think the obvious deadly combination for Kabutops is Kabutops + Moltres + Grass-type. Due to the fast paced nature of the tier right now, Kabutops is by far the best Rapid Spinner, as not only does it spin consistently well/beat all ghosts, it also has the immediate power to do a ton of damage and benefits a lot from Spikes. I no longer use the set i posted in my Rate My Team, which would be the set EonX posted above. With a good number of teams being balls to the wall offensive, I have found that I have trouble getting a Swords Dance off. I have also started using Jolly, partly due to what MoP said haha.

Besides the general inability to get a Swords Dance off, bar maybe a Choiced Fire-type, the other problem I had with Kabutops was the fact that it doesn't outright OHKO Nidoqueen without a boost, the most common pokemon in the tier. Jolly Life Orb Waterfall alleviates this and smashes Nidoqueen, as well as being useful as a strong 100% accurate move to hit switch ins like Rotom. You also get the jump on other Kabutops which is pretty cool x)

Weak Armor is a pretty awesome ability usually (except against Cinccino...), because most common revenge killers to Kabutops, like Sceptile or Lilligant, are outran by +1 Kabutops. In general, Kabutops is very difficult to switch in for offensive teams, especially offensive teams that use Choice Band Entei. As i just mentioned, a lot of faster Grass-type pokemon like Sceptile, Lilligant, Rotom-c, Sawsbuck etc can come in on Aqua Jet and Waterfall, but have a ton of trouble coming into Stone Edge (all are KO'd by Stone Edge + Ajet + SR). Water type priority is also excellent to keep Moltres, one of the most powerful pokemon in the tier, in check. As long as you can keep Stealth Rock down, Kabutops can check Moltres if you prevent it from Roosting / switch in on Fire Blast.

On the subject of partners, one of my favorite Kabutops partners is Escavalier. I'm not entirely sure why, but I have a team that uses both of them and it just pretty much clicks. Since I also run Nidoqueen, I didn't have to worry about random Volt Switch spam / Electric-type attacks in general, all i needed was something to take on Grass-types. Since Lilligant and Sceptile have resorted to running Hidden Power [Rock] for the most part, Escavalier has become an excellent check. On top of that, it has the ability to Pursuit and can flat out OHKO Tangrowth with a 405 Attack STAB CB Megahorn.

It is also worth a mention that in my opinion, Escavalier and Kabutops are the 2 hardest pokemon to switch into with an offensive team if Stealth Rock is on the field.

Kabutops thrive in this offensive RU meta. There are hard-counters to Kabutops like Tangrowth, Poliwrath, and Quagsire, but you hardly see them (or pure stall in general). After Swords Dance, Kabutops just wrecks.

Although august said its hard to set up Swords Dance, I personally find many opportunities for Kabutops to set up, whether it be on Entei locked into a wrong move or Archeops / Moltres fleeing for its life. Such scenarios are easy to replicate.

Rapid Spin is dispensable. We like to emphasize Kabutops's spinning capabilities, but Kabutops as a Pokemon is really better off with a more offensive choice. And it's not like using Kabutops for anything else other than spinning is a waste of a poke-slot - with a powerful Aqua Jet for sniping down faster threats and sweeping after a SD, it's very much like a Scizor of RU. There are MANY times where I had a choice to spin after the SR lead is dead, but I decide to just go 100% aggro and end up taking out half of the team with Kabutops.

For this reason Moltres is not the best teammate for Kabutops (although Kabutops is an amazing teammate for Moltres), because it necessitates Kabutops to waste a slot in Rapid Spin. Plus Moltres really doesn't help with Kabutops weakness to Grass-types (as most of them sport HP Rock), and only compounds the team's weakness to electric-types.

Good Partners for Kabutops

Escavalier by august - it serves as a reliable Lilligant counter, and also not a shabby Sceptile check either (w/o HP Fire). CB Megahorn is nice for defensive Grass-types, too.

Unlike Moltres, Entei is not deathly weak to SR and have some nice bulk to it. Even more it has a powerful CB ESpeed to check stuff that Kabutops cannot with Aqua Jet, providing some nice priority core. CB Flare Blitz from Entei, just like Megahorn from Escavalier hits hard, especially against Grass- and Steel- types that resists Kabutops' Stone Edge, and is really hard to take.

Druddigon is probably one of the most solid offensive checks to Grass-types. It also doubles up as a decent check against Electric-types, too. With its insanely powerful LO Outrage complemented with Sheer Force-boosted Fire Punch, it can literally punch holes against the opposing teams even if they have a dedicated physical wall. Druddigon is definitely a good wallbreaking choice to pave a sweep for Kabutops.

You can't go wrong with Nidoqueen on an RU team, but it does provide some tangible benefits to Kabutops. The absorption of Toxic Spikes is REALLY helpful in keeping Kabutops around for its grand performance. Nidoqueen also likes to attract mons that are set-up bait for Kabutops, such as Cryogonal or Moltres. Nidoqueen also has enough bulk to tank a powerful STAB Grass move in exchange for a Sludge Wave KO, allowing Kabutops to spam Aqua Jet without worries.

Obligatory mention of Gothitelle, since it can remove at least 1 physical wall that counters Kabutops should the opponent use one. HP Fire eliminates Ferroseed, while Psychic should easily dispatch Tangrowth, physically-defensive Amoonguss, and Poliwrath. Energy Ball can be used for Quagsire.

LO and SD is indispensable imo. Aqua Jet wont be anywhere near as awesome otherwise, missing on some cool KOs like a +2 LO Aqua Jet OHKO on Galvantula.

This is Kabutops' best set. Kabutops' measly 80 base Spe and reliance on 40 BP priority and Stone Shit are its main shortcomings. Give it Rain, and now it's the fastest mon in RU (ok there's Swift Swim Qwilfish and Floatzel, but w/e), with a 120 BP 100% accurate Waterfall. Seriously, just mash the Waterfall button to victory - very few teams are prepared for this, because of the current offensive nature of RU.

Stone Edge is of course a given since it provides some nice coverage and STAB, but if you're tired of Stone Edge being one of the shittiest move in the game, then Superpower is definitely a good alternative. The move is especially useful to Rain teams, since Ferroseed is one of the toughest mon to face, and it's nice to easily remove it without much hassle.

Awesome Rain Inducers

EonX mentioned a few of these - namely Uxie and Electrode. Uxie is great for providing Stealth Rock and bulk & Speed to guarantee that Rain goes up. Some like to give it Memento for a free switch-in to their Swift Swimmer, but Yawn + U-turn works, just as effectively. Electrode has access to the fastest Taunt in the game iirc, preventing any sort of set-up as it sets up Rain, maybe throw some Thunders, and Explode.

Lanturn is great on these teams, blocking Volt Switches and taking abuse for the team like Uxie. It also has a slow Volt Switch which allows it to bring in Kabutops & co safely. Special mention for Volbeat, whose Prankster puts up Rain virtually without fail, and whose Encore & Sub Pass easily providing safe entry to Kabutops and maybe even a Substitute to start setting up SDs.

Obligatory mention of Gothitelle, since it can remove at least 1 physical wall that counters Kabutops should the opponent use one. HP Fire eliminates Ferroseed, while Psychic should easily dispatch Tangrowth, physically-defensive Amoonguss, and Poliwrath. Energy Ball can be used for Quagsire.

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Gothitelle can also beat special walls if it has Psyshock.

Anyway, Kabutops. It's damned annoying. Although, if it isn't boosted and has a bit of damage beforehand, Entei sometimes can 2HKO it with Stone Edge. As far as counters to Kabutops go, I have to mention Amoonguss, as it has a 4x effective attack (Giga Drain, which basically negates Waterfall switch-ins) and can Spore it so that Sceptile can set up on it or the aforementioned mushroom can keep using Giga Drain to KO it.

Ruiner of Alph

Best Poster - Pocket: In depth, really covered all of the bases; overall, quite informative ^.^
Most Creative - august: Nice to see an alternative set to SD Kabutops, and he also covered the rest of the bases quite well :)

With a unique typing, varied movepool, and malleable stats, Rotom-C has definitely carved its niche in the RU metagame. What sets does it run? What are it's best partners? It's best checks and counters? What does it check and counter? What roles and niches does this thing fill that nothing else really can? Anything and everything is up for discussion on Rotom-C ^.^

RU Co-Leader

Rotom-C is an incredible pokemon that should really be used more, not just in RU, Rotom-C also has cool niches in UU and OU as well! Anyways, Rotom-C has quite a few sets it can run, the most common of which is its scarf set which can be seen here:
Rotom-Mow @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd / 4 SDef
Timid Nature
- Volt Switch
- Leaf Storm
- Hidden Power [Fire] / Thunderbolt
- Trick / Thunderbolt

While holding a stylish Choice Scarf, Rotom-C is one of the best revenge killers and scouts in the RU tier. Rotom-C can come in on many pokemon due to its good bulk and unique resistances, and then proceed to use volt switch to grab momentum. Unlike other Volt Switchers in the tier, Rotom-C has Leaf Storm to smack around any Ground-type or Lanturn that tries to get in its way. The power of leaf storm also lets Rotom-C revenge kill a wide array of pokemon that would survive its other attacks. Hidden Power Fire gives rotom a good way to hit the grass-types that resist its other moves, but either that or trick can be replaced with thunderbolt to clean up late game more easily. Although Trick is also really fun to cripple set up sweepers. Overall Scarf Rotom-C is an excellent scout and answer to pokemon such as Kabutops and Feraligatr, among other things.

Rotom-C can also perform other sets such a Choice Specs, Rain Support, and a Bulky pivot, but i havent tested any of them enough in this metagame to really comment on them ;_;.

Personally, I prefer running HP Ice instead of HP fire. All you do is sacrifice hitting escavalier to 2hko druddigon (and all other dragon types for that matter) and nidoqueen which is a pretty big feat for an electric type.

Rotom-c is without a doubt the best Choice Scarf user in the tier. Volt Switch Rotom-c is able to retain so much momentum, which is absolutely crucial for offensive teams in such a fast paced metagame. The set i use is the same as the set Molk posted

It has basically everything I enjoy having in a Choice Scarf pokemon. It has rather good defenses, good special attack, and above average speed. It isn't weak to Pursuit, it resists Aqua Jet, is immune to Ground-type attacks, and has a scouting move. Rotom-c is pretty much the full package x) Volt Switch is obviously the move you will be spamming most of the time, unless you predict Nidoqueen / Lanturn / some other Ground-type to be coming in. Rotom-c is a great Kabutops partner, with the Ground-type immunity, 4x Electric-type resistance, and Grass-type resistance. Kabutops also covers Poison, Fire, and Ice type attacks, making them a rather solid resistance based core. I generally use Thunderbolt rather than Hidden Power Fire, just because most of the stuff i would hit with Hidden Power Fire than just be Volt Switched out of on the switch in. For example, Ferroseed, Tangrowth, and Escavalier.

Rotom-c can also effectively run both an Expert Belt set and a Chesto Rest set. Running an Expert Belt set allows you to spam Volt Switch more freely, as the Ground-types who come in thinking they get a free turn will be promptly OHKO'd. Lanturn comes into Volt Switch and thinks it gets a free turn to gain momentum via its own Volt Switch? Promptly smashed. Momentum crushed. With an Expert Belt, Rotom-c can also revenge kill Kabutops with an Expert Belt. Unfortunately, you lose out on the ability to revenge kill DD Crawdaunt, Moltres, and some others.

Having used Chesto Rest, i can attest to its effectiveness. It bluffs Scarf just as well as Expert Belt, and allows you to keep Rotom-c around longer if you need it to take on some key threats! I generally run Will O Wisp / Rest / Volt Switch / Leaf Storm on Chesto Rest, as it helps my team by spreading status and also scares away Lanturn, the most common Heal Bell user!

As i mentioned before, Kabutops is an excellent partner for Rotom-c. They form a solid resistance based core, and can both revenge kill Moltres if they predict correctly. Sadly, neither of them can effectively switch into Nidoqueen. Therefore it makes sense to run these with a Nidoqueen switch in, like Offensive Stealth Rock Uxie or Mesprit, to help set up hazards, check Nidoqueen, and spread paralysis. CB Entei also does well with this core, as it OHKOs Nidoqueen and smashes random bugs like Escavalier and Scyther that otherwise may be slightly annoying. Extreme Speed is also cool to revenge stuff that you don't want to sac Rotom to beat :)